Elizabeth Short was born on July 29, 1924 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. Her legal name was Elizabeth Short (no middle name). While a child, many called her Betty, and as she matured, she preferred to be called Beth.She was raised in Medford, by her mother, Phoebe Mae, after her father, Cleo Short, abandoned her and her four sisters in October 1929. Many believing he had committed suicide, as his empty car was found near a bridge. He later sent a letter to his wife, apologizing for leaving. Phoebe refused to allow him to return.
Beth matured quickly. She grew up to become a beautiful teenager - she looked older and more sophisticated than others her age.
As a child, Beth frequently attended movies with her mother. And later, the girl's goal was to work in movies.
Troubled by asthma, Short spent summers in Medford and winters in Florida. At the age of 19, she went to Vallejo, California, to live with her father. The two moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, but after an argument, she departed, getting a job at one of the post exchanges at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc. She moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943 for underage drinking and was sent back to Medford by juvenile authorities. In the few years following, she resided in various cities in Florida, with occasional trips back to Massachusetts, earning money mostly as a waitress.
In Florida, Short met Major Matthew M. Gordon Jr., who was part of the 2nd Air Commandos and training for deployment in the China Burma India theater of operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote a letter from India proposing marriage while recovering from an airplane crash he suffered while trying to rescue a downed flier. (He was, according to his obituary in the Pueblo, Colorado newspaper, awarded a Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, the Air Medal with 15 oak leaf clusters, and Purple Heart). She accepted his proposal, but he died in a crash on August 10, 1945, before he could return to the U.S. She later embellished this story, saying that they were married and had a child who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirm that Gordon and Short were engaged, his family subsequently denied any connection after Short's murder.
Short returned to Southern California in July 1946 to see an old boyfriend she met in Florida during the war, Lt. Gordon Fickling, who was stationed in Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, she remained in Southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area. During this time, she lived in several hotels, apartment buildings, rooming houses, and private homes, never staying anywhere for more than a few weeks.
Near Santa Barbara was Beth's next stop. It was here where she was arrested for underage drinking. After her arrest and fingerprinting, police instructed the young woman to return home to Medford.
At one time she had gone home for a visit, but Beth was determined to be in movies, and returned to Hollywood.
It was mid-January, 1947, when Beth was last seen alive at the Biltmore Hotel. It was reported that she was to meet a gentleman. After leaving the hotel, she was never again seen alive.
The body of Elizabeth Short was found on January 15th, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, a passerby spotted her nude body in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body, cut in half, was bruised and beaten. Grass had reportedly been forced into her vagina, and she had reportedly been sodomized after death, severely mutilated, cut in half, and drained of blood. Her face was slashed from the corners of her mouth toward her ears.Rumors of henna in her hair and BD carved into her body, as of yet to this outlet, have not been verified.
Elizabeth Short has been famous ever since, not the way she wanted to be as aspiring starlet, but brutally mutilated and murdered, dubbed the "Black Dahlia" by the press.
Resource: wikipedia.org, http://www.bethshort.com/
61 years ago today, Elizabeth Short's body was found. The Black Dahlia case is still unsolved and they never never found Elizabeth Short's killer. It was also one of the most famouse murder mystieres of all time. Want to know more? go to www.bethshort.com or buy some books about the cause and Elizabeth Short. I recommend:
